Wednesday, October 12, 2011

LeFrak changes focus

From the Wall Street Journal:

The LeFrak family, which built thousands of apartment units in Queens in the 1960s and 1970s, will create its first new residential project in the borough in 38 years.

The Manhattan real-estate family's third-generation head, Richard LeFrak, plans to convert a 13-story office tower in Rego Park built by his father 50 years ago into 108 luxury rentals. The project is tiny compared with the family's megadevelopments in the region, such as LeFrak City in Queens and the Newport complex in Jersey City.

The Queens project reflects a new era of real-estate investment in that borough. When the family built LeFrak City, it was manufacturing low- and middle-income housing for teachers, firefighters and the area's working class. Now, the LeFraks are planning to build high-end rentals to cater to Queens' booming young and immigrant population.

20 comments:

Gary the Agnostic said...

A not very attractive building right next to a noisy and dangerous street. You probably get all kinds of vibrations from the subway downstairs.

SOLD!!!!

Guaranteed that the first people who buy apartments there will be same types who got suckered into buying apartments in Hunters Point next to the rail yards.

Ms. Tsouris said...

Is that 97-77 Queens Boulevard, headquarters for the Queens UFT? Where will the UFT go next? To inaccessible Long Island City and still call it the Queens office? Some of us live in eastern Queens....

Anonymous said...

They have several office buildings on Junction Blvd that could be converted. Why not? They probably will want to upgrade their buildings behind it too!

Anonymous said...

The curved front would seem to imply its "LeFrak Tower" 97-45 Queens Blvd

Anonymous said...

If you lived here, you would be home now.

Anonymous said...

40 years ago the name was Lefrak,when did they become french?

Anonymous said...

Just what that area needs - more building, more traffic, more stain no the infrastructure.

What is QCC doing?

Anonymous said...

What is QCC doing?

... concerned about the weeds along the byways of Bayside.

Anonymous said...

I see the logic...

subway downsatirs shopping right there no need for a car ever

so use the extra couple hundred a month left over instead of saving for retirement or old age or for healthcare pisssss it all away on being upscale....kewl!

Anonymous said...

Lefrak was the DEMISE of Elmhurst!

Anonymous said...

40 years ago the name was Lefrak,when did they become french?
-----

Wiki: The LeFrak Organization was founded in 1883 in France, by Samuel J. LeFrak's grandfather, Maurice.

Source: Real Estate Weekly / April 4, 2001 / A Family Affair / by Parke Chapman.

"The family's name, it should be noted, is LeFrak while the firm's name is written Lefrak, done so that the family's French origins are highlighted."

Anonymous said...

I don't think there is anything French about the LeFrak Family but they are good at marketing and the old man tweak the family name to imply this. It's just another clever idea that this family is very good at in Real Estate including not going broke when their competitors are.

You Have No One To Blame said...

...but yourselves.

Exhibit A Of Why Queens Is The Way If Is:

Another ugly building dumped into an area that simply cannot afford it.

And you argue the spelling of his name.

And this is on a activist blog.

Anonymous said...

The building is already there. It's an office building.

RC said...

UFT should move into the old Jet Blue building on Union and QB. There's lots of empty floor space there. Easy to access from the Kew Gardens interchange via auto and adjacent to subway line as well.

RC said...

UFT should move into the old Jet Blue building on Union and QB. There's lots of empty floor space there. Easy to access from the Kew Gardens interchange via auto and adjacent to subway line as well.

Anonymous said...

An office building and and apartment building ARE essentially two different buildings - only the building skeleton is the same.

The impact on infrastructure is totally different.

Anonymous said...

I'm not an activist,just a lousy comic.........

Sheila L. Marcus said...

Hi, I've heard about being related to the LeFrak family for years. My granddad, Jacob(AKA Jake and Jack)lived in Brooklyn, when he arrived in this country. His wife was Etta Stone,and his sister, a "rebbitsen" (sp) was married to an orthodox rabbi, a holy man. I found that out when I was a young child when I went to hug him. My mother was Miriam, and her two older sisters were Mildred and Rosalind (Roddy). I found an old article about a Lefrak in real estate, remembered my mother talking about her family in the real estate business, and /i visitd, regularly, a friend who lived in Lefrak City with her husband and baby, after we graduated from Temple University, as teachers. I just retired from the Phila. School District, after 45 years, and I was a reading specialist for 41 of those years. Being a Gemini, I had a second job, not a part time job,in real estate, and I have been a realtor for 30 + years, in the Phila. and suburban areas. I'm with C21 Advantage Gold in Southampton. My cell is:215-421-4071. The office is: 215-322-7050, and home is:215-934-5562. I would look forward to meeting members of my family who are in real estate. I would like so much to meet you or communicate! My manager, Harold DeFazio, was surprised that I was contacting you, but I'm 66 years old , and i don't know how many more years I may have left. My mom spoke about you as family so often.

Anonymous said...

Gary, I live there and it very quiet. In fact, its the first time in 15 years I've a good night's sleep. No vibration from the subway and the bldg inside/apts are magnificant!